S-43 Flying Boat

The last model of the Sikorsky flying boats was launched on June 1, 1935. Equipped with two 750hp engines, a top speed of 190mph, and a range of 775 miles, the S-43 reclaimed some of the commercial interest that the original S-38 had brought Sikorsky from his buyers. Filling the gap left by its predecessor, the S-43 set four payload-to-height records one year after its inception and reached a maximum altitude of 29,950ft. Seventeen of the fifty-three S-43s manufactured were purchased by the US Navy; fourteen went to Pan Am Airlines, and four flew West African routes for the French airline Aéromaritime, as well as airlines in Russia, Norway, China, and the Philippines. Four of the S-43s were also put to use in shuttling passengers of Inter Island Airways from Honolulu to the major islands of Hawaii.